Friendship Song
by Silver Starfire 217
Summary: Hamuko and Minato discuss whether they've already got presents for anyone since Christmas is coming and eat some ramen.


**Something small for one of my besties. Hope you smile, friend!**

**Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate!**

* * *

"Minato," Hamuko growled, clearly frustrated by the situation before her. He had to fall asleep again, and when he was asleep it was always hard for him to wake up, even with somebody else's help. It was the pinnacle of stubbornness and he didn't even have to do anything to be that irritating.

"Minato," she whined, shaking him from his shoulders, hoping that he would wake up. "Can't you wake up?" Hamuko sighed.

"Hamuko," Minato groaned, turning his head away from her direction and to the side. "Stop it…" he sighed.

"But we were supposed to go and do eat around the strip mall, don't tell me you're gonna break that promise," she said with a positively heart-broken and shaky voice. She was half-joking with her tone however; it was partly as an act to get Minato to feel sorry for what he was going and the other half was her worrying about not going with him. Trusted friends didn't break promises to each other, right?

Minato slowly cracked one of his silver eyes open and gazed at Hamuko's expression. He could tell. She really did want to go with him, and he did say that he would earlier in the day. Minato sighed. Well, he wasn't one to break promises. And besides, it was Hamuko. Hamuko was always fun to hang out with, if perhaps too lively and bubbly for his own taste.

"No, I won't," he said reassuringly. Even though he valued his sleep, he valued his friends more. "Can you just let me pick up some stuff from my room? Then we can go," Minato asked.

Hamuko nodded happily as he finally got up. "Alright then!" she said cheerfully.

After a few minutes, Minato came down from the upper floors with his wallet and phone in hand. "Let's go Hamuko," he said. "Where do ya wanna go?" Minato asked, looking in his wallet for any sign of money. Thankfully there was quite a bit there that he could use. No doubt that they might've been buying a little bit considering that they were going around to the malls and all.

"Um, I'm not really sure," Hamuko laughed nervously, looking to Minato with a questioning gaze and trying to say that he would probably have to pick.

Actually, Minato found it kinda cute when she did that, and he couldn't really refuse it. "Well," he nodded. "I wanna get some ramen…"

"Um, are you sure?" Hamuko laughed. "Not that I'm complaining, it's just haven't you been hanging out with Shinji and Aki a lot so I thought you might be tired of it already…" she chuckled.

"Nah, I think I can manage," Minato replied as the two of the started towards the dorm doors and out. "Besides, who can ever get tired of a Hagakure special?" he chuckled.

"I can't," Hamuko laughed along with him. "They're too good," she said.

After a few minutes of walking, Minato and Hamuko reached the Iwatodai strip mall. It was early evening, but one wouldn't have been able to tell since the grey scale cloud cover was that thick. Not to mention, it was cold. Hamuko hated the cold since she never was able to stand against it very well. Minato however, quite liked chilly weather as if to contrast her even more.

"Are you cold, Hamuko?" he asked as he saw her shiver a little bit and pull up her scarf.

"Um…" Hamuko had half a mind to say that she wasn't cold and that she could handle it, but honestly… She really couldn't and Minato had already noticed that she was. "Yeah, I am," she said sheepishly.

"I see," he mumbled. "Ah, you don't have to but…" Minato said awkwardly as he took off his jacket and draped it around Hamuko.

Hamuko looked at him with a curious expression before saying, "Thanks Minato."

Minato wasn't awkward around Hamuko because of the usual reasons that a guy could be awkward around a girl. He wasn't careful with the way he acted because Minato wanted Hamuko to like or love him; not at all. He was careful because he knew that the way they acted around each other was a bit closer than most and sometimes they were close enough and hanging around together that it was almost like they were a couple. But they weren't. They were best friends, and it was because of that he never wanted to imply something like him liking Hamuko.

"No problem," Minato nodded. "We should get going," he urged.

"Mmhm," Hamuko agreed before stepping off to the upper floors of the mall.

Minato sighed. Good thing he was good against cold… After that thought, he followed along with Hamuko.

They got to Hagakure, finding that more people were starting to leave. Neither Minato nor Hamuko could blame them. It was getting closer and closer to closing time after all. Nevertheless, the two of them sat down at a table and got their orders.

"Minato, who do you think can slurp the loudest between the two of us?" Hamuko asked excitedly. Slurping up ramen and just noodles in general was fun, and polite. How about that? Minato looked to her with a curious expression.

"I dunno. But, I think I got some practice in with Aki and Shinji to know that I'm pretty loud," Minato said. Someone else might've sounded a bit more enthusiastic about that thought, but of course, Minato was as blank as ever, with only a tiny smile creasing his lips; so small that someone who didn't know Minato would think that he wasn't displaying any emotions at all.

"I see," Hamuko nodded sagely. "Well, I'm curious now so, do you wanna try seeing who can slurp the loudest when the food gets here?" she grinned competitively.

Minato looked back at Hamuko with an amused expression. "Sure," he replied, idly casting his eyes around the store as they both waited. And then his eyes met hers.

She looked… incredibly bored. He couldn't blame Hamuko after how long he had known her. Minato know her well enough to know that she had a pretty short attention span when it came to waiting for things. Ideally, she would have something else with her that would take her mind off of the boring monotony for a few minutes.

"What? You know I'm bored," Hamuko smiled slightly when she caught Minato looking at her.

"Yeah, I know. Do you think that distraction is contagious?" he asked.

"Sure is," she sighed. "Man, I'm getting hungry…"

"I am too, but I have a feeling it should be coming soon," Minato said absentmindedly.

Sure enough, but a few moments after he had spoken those very words, the ramen appeared in all its glory. "Thank you!" Hamuko chirped as the waiter was about to leave.

"So, when?" Minato asked, breaking apart his chopsticks evenly enough.

"Whenever. This is for sound, not speed after all!" Hamuko replied, sticking her tongue out as she too broke apart her chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!"

A few noisy minutes passed between the two competitors and it wasn't easy to see who the winner was. Unfortunately for Minato, Hamuko was just a tiny bit louder than him and she was the one who won out. Because she was putting so much effort into slurping as loud as possible she also finished bit faster than him.

"Gochisousama," Hamuko smiled as she put her chopsticks down on top of her napkin. "Hey, I even finished faster than you Minato!" she laughed.

"Yeah, you did," Minato smiled slightly as he too finished. "Damn, that was loud…" he mumbled.

"Well yeah, this stuff is too awesome not to be eaten that quickly!" Hamuko said cheerfully. "Should we get going?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Minato agreed. "It's gonna be even colder out there again," he said quietly under his breath. And he knew how much Hamuko hated the cold.

"Ugh, cold," Hamuko groaned. "I mean, seriously, winter and Christmas is awesome and stuff, but I hate how cold it gets here…" she sighed. Hamuko didn't complain about too many things, but maybe she grumbled about homework and other things like that, but winter and cold was the one exception.

"Mmhm," Minato nodded absentmindedly. "Well… we better get going before the temperature goes down even more," he said, once again taking off his jacket and giving it to Hamuko, knowing that she would need it.

"Eh, Minato you're gonna make me feel bad for me stealing your jacket all the time," Hamuko laughed.

"If you're the one stealing it," Minato said as he pulled up his own scarf, "I wouldn't mind." Hamuko couldn't see the smile that was on his face as he said that since it was covered, but it was there, sitting silently under that cloth.

Hamuko looked at Minato with curious eyes before she slipped the jacket on, trying to gather up some heat in advance before they left the store. "Thanks Minato," she laughed a little. "Let's go then."

Like Minato had said, it had gotten colder since they had entered the store and it was snowing a little heavier as well. The sky hadn't cleared up at all; in fact Minato and Hamuko thought that it was even thicker than before. But maybe it was just their imaginations. They weren't able to see the clouds as clearly since it was getting darker.

Minato and Hamuko passed through the mall with little conversation between the two. However, there was one topic that kept on popping up, and that was the matter of presents for the coming Christmas. "Have you thought of what you were going to get everyone yet?" Minato asked, though he could see from the sad expression in Hamuko's eyes that she hadn't found any.

"No, and I've been thinking about it for a while now," Hamuko sighed. "What about you Minato?"

"Me neither."

Hamuko looked at her friend with an almost incredulous look before her gaze softened. "You haven't either?" she smiled slightly under her scarf, looking at the ground.

"No… it's kinda hard to choose stuff like that," Minato chuckled. "Though, from what I heard from Junpei, not a lot of the others have decided either."

"Really?" Hamuko laughed a little. "I see… so I'm not the only one."

"Not at all… but I don't think it'll matter as much this time," Minato pulled his scarf down from his face as they were getting closer to the dorm. "I think… everyone's just looking to get through the next year now."

"That's pretty true," Hamuko nodded, doing the same as Minato. "I just think that, no matter what happens, we're all still going to be friends."

She turned heel as they finally reached the steps that led to the dorm. "And you'll still be my bestie," Hamuko added, bringing a slight smile to Minato's face.

"I'll still be your bestie too," he chuckled.


End file.
